During Black History Month, which takes place every February, the College of Alameda – College to Career (C2C) program recognizes important contributions of African-Americans to the United States.
There are more than 3.2 million working-age African-Americans with disabilities, most of whom face structural barriers to success.
C2C would like to honor the realities and challenges that continue to shape the lives of African-American people with disabilities. C2C encourages you to learn more about diverse African American figures.
Here are a few helpful resources to get you started:
VIDEOS
Title: Intersectionality and Disability
- Description: Keri Gray, founder and CEO of the Keri Gray Group, advises young professionals, businesses, and organizations on issues around disability, race, gender, and intersectionality. Keri illustrates how the framework of intersectionality is essential to true inclusion.
- Length: 2 min. and 19 secs.
Title: Lois Curtis’s Story from One Law For All: The Story of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society
- Description: Lois Curtis is an African American artist with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as schizophrenia. Lois Curtis paved the way for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities (“ID”) to get out of institutional settings and live within communities.
- Length: 1 min. and 41 secs.
Title: Johnnie Lacy – An Advocate for Independent Living
- Description: Johnnie Lacy (1937–2010). Growing up in the Jim Crow South, Ms. Lacy was acutely aware of the too numerous acts of discrimination against her and her fellow African Americans. At age 19, Lacy was diagnosed with polio and eventually needed a wheelchair to get around. From then on, she also became a disability advocate and self-advocate in the struggle to be able to attend university (a right not guaranteed at the time) and for the resources to live independently in the community. Both identities were strongly intertwined.
- Length: 1 hr. and 14 min.
Black History Month (BHM) @ COA
This month, stay up-to-date with BHM events presented by COA by visiting the following websites:
